


promises we've made

by asterousdisaster



Series: making mythology gay again [2]
Category: Hadestown - Mitchell, Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, But mostly angst, Greek Mythology - Freeform, Happy endings?, Harley as Eurydice, M/M, Orpheus and Eurydice, Peter as Orpheus, Peter is still Spider-Man, Some Fluff, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony as Hermes, modern au?, the avengers don't exist, we shall see
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 09:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20387395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asterousdisaster/pseuds/asterousdisaster
Summary: “How far would you go for Harley?”"To the end of time.” Peter says firmly, gripping his mask in one hand, “to the end of the universe.”"It’s no spaceship,” Tony warns him, “Getting to Thanos is not an easy path – not for the sensitive of souls”He pauses. "So do you really wanna go?”"With all my heart.”Tony regards him. “Well, that’s a start.”-a parkner au of the musical, Hadestown, and the greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice





	1. underneath his wing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hermes? Like the Greek god?”
> 
> “Shhh,” he raises a finger to his lips and leans in slightly, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, “I’m incognito. Call me Tony. Tony Stark.”
> 
> “A god called Tony?” Peter asks sceptically, as though that’s the weirdest thing he’s seen today.
> 
> Tony draws back in mock offence, “Yeah, shut up kid.”

As many Greek tales begin, this one starts with a god and a mortal. And, as many Greek tales do, it ends with tragedy. Still, there is always the slightest belief that perhaps this time, this time the story might just turn out differently.

Hermes spends a lot of his time in the mortal realm. As the god of messages and travelling, Zeus doesn’t even know how busy he is - what with all the up and coming technology and developments and _aliens!_His immortal life just got a whole lot more interesting.

Even so, he only ever watches them as they scurry about their fleeting lives - some search for meaning, some scrambling to leaving a mark on their world - really, it is fascinating. And yet, rarely does he interact with them.

To be fair, few believe the gods of Ancient Greece actually exist anymore. Demigod children and rare and far apart (he’s not quite sure how Zeus has managed to keep it in his pants - it’s almost impressive) and have practically died out. They had sworn an oath to no longer consort with mortals but really, when has a little thing like consequences ever bothered the gods?

No. Hermes tries not to interfere with mortal lives. More often than not, the gods’ involvement only ends in doom. Still, he’s only one god whose impulse control is his father’s threats and in the past century or so, he’s been involved with two mortal lives: once was an accident and the other by choice. And somehow, by a strange twist of fate, these two lives collide.

Ultimately, it’s their story that’s being told.

* * *

It mostly starts when he meets Peter Parker.

He’d watched the boy for a while now. Never before had he seen someone so well-intentioned and pure of heart and so, so willing to throw himself into all sorts of unnecessary danger. Hermes isn’t one to get attached (mortals die too quickly and too easily) but he can feel the fondness growing for the boy and he did not want to see him die if he could do anything about it.

You see, Peter Parker was also Queens’ friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man. And every night he dresses up in red and blue pyjamas and goes out stopping petty crime in his city. It’s rather noble, Hermes decides, though if the kid could try his best not to get shot and fix himself up on his fire escape in the middle of the night, it would do wonders for Hermes’ immortal heart. 

For all the oaths they’ve sworn about not having any more demigod children blah blah blah, not once has Zeus said anything about just…talking – maybe mentoring? – a random mortal. Of course, Hermes is going to take advantage of the loophole and chooses to do something about Peter Parker. Technically he’s not breaking any rules.

And so, Hermes starts to scheme.

It’s been a while since he talked to a mortal so obviously, he needs to make sure he doesn’t come across as a crazy person. Turns out, he’s not a huge fan of planning and decides to turn up outside the door of the Parker residence the next day.

He takes the form of a mortal – wears a business suit, a funky pair of orange-tinted sunglasses, throws on an odd goatee he must’ve seen on a poster and gives himself a moment to adjust to the vulnerability and smallness of a human (he’s so short this is ridiculous!).

He still doesn’t have a plan.

He’s a god, he doesn’t need that. The kid’s a mere fifteen years old – _a complete baby! _– and Hermes is just here to provide some extra protection.

Really though, all he did was find all the tech Peter might need to make a new-and-improved-not-just-cotton Spidey suit and shove it into a purple paper gift bag.

The door flies open.

Hermes hasn’t even rung the bell. 

Peter stands in the doorway, eyes alert like he’s expecting some sort of attack. Hermes tries not to show his surprise and hopes that the wings on his shoes don’t make an appearance because that would be incredibly difficult to explain.

The two stare at each other for a while.

“Uh…who are you?”

Hermes opens his mouth to answer when Peter’s gaze drops and fixates on Hermes’ shoes. Or more specifically, the wings that seem to have taken a mind of their own and flutter nervously by his ankles.

His mouth drops open almost comically. “Hermes? Like the Greek god?”

Now, Hermes is stunned. How the kid’s perceptiveness slipped his notice he has no idea. He tries not to flinch at the use of his godly name, straightens up and pulls a smirk onto his face.

“Shhh,” he raises a finger to his lips and leans in slightly, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, “I’m incognito. Call me Tony. Tony Stark.”

“A god called Tony?” Peter asks sceptically, as though that’s the weirdest thing he’s seen today.

<strike>Hermes</strike>Tony draws back in mock offence, “Yeah, shut up kid.”

Peter’s eyebrows are drawn together in confusion but he nods slowly.

“What are you doing here, Mr Herm- Mr Stark?”

“I want to discuss something with you.”

When Peter doesn’t make a move to bring Tony in and perhaps give them some form of secrecy, Tony rolls his eyes and juts a thumb into the flat, “Private matters. Of the arachnid sort.”

Peter’s eyes widen and he practically drags Tony – _he is a god! _– into the flat.

“What are you talking about?” Peter hisses, suddenly on the alert again.

“Look, kid. I’ve seen what you can do and I’m not gonna stop you. Nor am I going to out you. I do think you’re doing good.”

As Peter flushes slightly at the praise, Tony ploughs on, “But then again, I don’t want you dying anytime soon so I’ve found some tech that you can use to make a suit that can protect you better than those pyjamas.”

He holds up a hand to stop Peter’s protests, “I know you have the skill to make your own stuff – I’ve seen your webshooters in action – this is just for your own safety.”

By the gods he sounds like a mother. He’s known of this kid for a couple months and he’s already attached. There’s no way this will end well.

He lets his hand fall, allowing the kid to speak. “Well, questions?”

“This is amazing Mr Stark! Thank you! But…” Peter starts, slowing his tone, “when you say found the tech did you mean…steal from Hephaestus?”

Tony splutters indignantly because _no, he had actually asked nicely! _but when he sees Peter stifling his laughter, he lets his lips quirk up in the smallest of smiles.

“You’re gonna be the death of me kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've planned every chapter for except the last cos I still don't know how it will end oops. Inspiration from Hadestown and also some Percy Jackson because that series was the foundation for all my Greek mythology knowledge.
> 
> I hope?? you like it?? :"-") 
> 
> It's my first mcu fic that I've /actually/ written and first parkner fic so I'm hoping the characters aren't too OOC
> 
> Let me know if you have any questions because this universe is probably a bit confusing cos I have merged...everything.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed the introduction! Please leave a comment or kudos because that will motivate me to write


	2. all I've ever known

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter holds the rose up like a peace offering and blurts out, “Come home with me?”
> 
> “No offence, sweetheart,” Harley starts, a teasing lilt in his voice, “but I don’t go home with strangers.”
> 
> Peter flushes more and drops his hands, “I’m Peter Parker.”
> 
> “Harley Keener.”

Everything goes well. Surprisingly well. 

Tony’s still a god and he has duties so he can’t always be on the lookout for trouble – besides he can’t let a mortal occupy the majority of his time!

He does, however, turn up for the boat issue when he finds the kid barely holding an entire cruise ship together with his webs and offers a bit of godly assistance.

He’s there on prom night for <strike>his kid’s first date</strike>the thing with the Vulture who ended up being his date’s _father_. He’s there after prom and the Vulture to reassure the kid and, oh yeah, is introduced to his aunt because apparently finding out your nephew is Spider-Man isn’t enough. She had to learn that a god has been mentoring him!

He turns up with Green Goblin.

And Prowler and Shocker.

And a bunch of smaller villains that Tony can’t care to name (that’s a lie – he remembers every single person who hurt his kid)

In all honesty, Tony doesn’t really _do _much. He’s there for support and guidance but ultimately, Peter figures it out by himself. He’s just that kind of person.

Sometimes, he’ll supply Peter with more tech or information. Others, they just sit together on the roof and Tony will listen to Peter’s anecdotes and exchange some of his own.

He has a ridiculous, parental love as well as a load of respect for the kid. Sometimes he wonders if he and his siblings would have turned out better if Zeus and Hera had done some better parenting.

Tony made it clear to Peter though: he was not replacing his dad or Uncle Ben in any way.

He was more of…a guardian angel.

He watches Peter as he graduates from high school, gets a degree in biochemical engineering and is off to become a world-renowned scientist.

And he’s there when Peter Parker meets Harley Keener.

Now _that’s _a blast from the past.

* * *

Remember when Tony mentioned that he’d interacted twice with mortals and the first had been an accident?

Well, the accident is called Harley Keener.

No, he’s not Harley’s father (though the man had been MIA when he’d first met the eleven-year-old). He had merely…crashed into Harley’s garage.

It was bad enough that he – a god – had ended up in the garage in the first place but when a literal child appears out of nowhere and starts shooting at him with a _potato gun_, Hermes prays to all the gods that no one is watching because he would never live this down.

Imagine, the god of thieves and stealth taken down by potatoes for making too much noise in a garage he had no business being in anyway.

To be fair, Hermes hadn’t expected the boy to be able to see him. Usually, this thing called the Mist would cover up anything remotely magical or strange that they aren’t meant to see by warping their incompetent mortal minds to believe that a god crashing into their garage was actually a pigeon rummaging for food. It was actually quite useful when it worked.

Seeing as Harley had not only seen Hermes, but shot potatoes at him, he must’ve been one of those rare mortals that could see through the Mist.

Clearly, this kid was special.

So he hung out with Harley for a bit, explained that he was a god (i mean, why not) and together they came up with a mortal alias for him in case he ever crashed into someone’s garage and needed a fake story: Tony Stark. A <strike>Homeless </strike>Lost mechanic searching for a wrench to fix his car.

“You’re not gonna come back are you?” Harley states, arms crossed. 

Hermes gives Harley an apologetic shrug, “Sorry kid, duty calls. Places to be, messages to deliver, things to steal and all that godly business.”

“Can’t you take me with you? You crashed into my garage! We’re connected now!”

And as much as it pains him to do so, Hermes leaves.

If the kid finds a bunch of tools in his garage and a small note saying: ‘Cos we’re connected’, who’s to say Hermes didn’t have a part to play in that?

* * *

Now the two men – the only mortals Tony had ever interacted with in this century – had met each other in the park of all places and Peter Parker was head over heels.

The kid hadn’t even spoken to Harley yet! Didn’t even know his name! 

Fate really had a funny way of working out. Tony was sure the three old crones were cackling at him as the events unfolded.

“Okay. I’m gonna just…go up to him.” Peter mutters, eyes searching the ground, “And I’ll give him…this!”

He picks up a slightly wilted rose from the ground and waves it in front of Tony triumphantly, “and I’ll ask him out!”

Peter has no idea that Tony knows Harley (Tony’s not even sure if Harley remembers him) but he looks so excited and ridiculously lovestruck that Tony doesn’t try to stop him.

“Don’t come on too strong.” Tony warns the kid, watching from a safe distance (a bench nearby so he could watch everything unfold) and praying to, well, himself that Harley won’t recognise him.

So Peter approaches Harley, all his Spider-Man grace gone and moving like a deer learning to walk, the flimsy flower clutched in his hand and it looks like he’s just about to make it to Harley in one piece.

And then he trips over his own shoelaces and ploughs right into the other man.

They both end up on the grass – Peter lying sprawled on top of Harley, all flushed cheeks and mumbled apologies as though Peter can’t get them out fast enough and he scrambles to his feet, offering a hand for Harley.

Then they’re standing, both staring at each other, Peter still holding Harley’s hand in his.

And Harley is staring at Peter, completely enchanted.

Tony wants to laugh.

There’s a long silence and then Peter holds the now completely squished rose up like a peace offering and blurts out, “Come home with me?”

And Tony doesn’t even try to stop the laughter that escapes him because Peter’s ears are bright red and Harley looks confused but for some reason he doesn’t pull his hands away and they’re both such disasters it’s comical.

“No offence, sweetheart,” Harley starts, a teasing lilt in his voice, “but I don’t go home with strangers.”

Peter flushes more and drops his hands, “I’m Peter Parker.”

“Harley Keener.”

Tony can see Peter practically swoon at the name and the smile that accompanied it.

“Beautiful.”

Harley’s lips quirk up in an amused smile and he turns directly to Tony, “Is he always like this?”

Of course, Harley has already seen him.

Peter’s spluttering beside him, twitching nervously at the diverted attention and Tony rolls his eyes behind his shades.

“Yes.”

“Hey!”

“A bit of a player?” Harley teases.

“I’m not like that” Peter protests.

Tony nods his agreement, “He’s not like any man you’ve ever met.”

Both men turn to him in surprise – high praise, especially coming from a god.

Harley shrugs and smiles widely at Peter, turning his back on Tony and offering an arm to him.

“Well, Peter Parker, how ‘bout a date then?” Harley declares, plucking the tormented rose from Peter’s hand and tucking it into Peter’s hair, “and then we’ll see about the whole coming home with you thing.”

Peter’s blush won’t be going away anytime soon and he shyly takes Harley’s arm, letting Harley lead him away.

As they walk away, Peter turns back and Tony gives him a thumbs up.

It’s the first of many dates. And though he’s not Aphrodite, Tony even dares to say they’re soulmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More world building oOps! These are both kinda short but I'm starting to realise this is going to be the average length of my chapters sorry!
> 
> More Percy Jackson references! more lines from Hadestown ! All the fluff and none of the angst!
> 
> It's almost too good to be true :")
> 
> I'm gonna try and get the next chapter done tomorrow but for now I hope you're enjoying this fic so far! Any and all encouragement is greatly loved


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